Translation: Matthew 6:25-33

(Please feel free to use this translation.  Credit:  Rev. Murray Speer.)

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your own life, 

what you will eat or drink, 

or about your body, what you will wear. 

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 

26 Look at the birds of the air; 

they don’t plant food, harvest it, or store it up, 

and yet your divine protector feeds them. 

Are you not of more consequence than they are? 

27 But can worrying add even a single hour to your lifespan? 

28 And why do you worry about clothing? 

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; 

they don’t work hard and they don’t make cloth, 

29 yet I say to you, 

even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of them. 

30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, 

which is alive today and tomorrow is placed into the oven, 

will he not much more clothe you—who lack confidence? 

31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 

‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 

32 For it is the unfaithful outsiders who strive for all these things; 

and indeed your divine protector knows that you need all these things. 

33 But strive first for God’s kingdom and God’s way of justness, 

and all these things will be added to you.”

Translation: Luke 16:1-9

(Please feel free to use this translation.  Credit:  Rev. Murray Speer.)

He kept speaking to his disciples:  There once was a rich man who had a steward, and this one was slandered to him how he was spreading around his wealth.  And he called him and said to him:  “What is this I hear about you?  Produce the books of your stewardship, for you can no longer steward.”

And the steward said to himself:  “What will I do now that the master has removed the stewardship from me?  I am not strong to dig; I am ashamed to beg.  I know what I will do, so that when thrown out of the stewardship they will welcome me into their houses. “

And calling his master’s debtors one at a time, he kept speaking to them.  To the first: “What do you owe to my master?”  And he said one hundred barrels of oil.  And he said to him, “Take your account and sit down; quickly write fifty.”  To another he spoke: “And what do you owe to my master?”  And he said one hundred loads of grain.  He said to him, “Take your account and write eighty.”

And the master praised the steward’s unrighteousness, because he acted with insight.  Because the sons of this age are more insightful than the sons of light into this age in which they live.  And I say to you: Use your unrighteous wealth to make true friends for yourself, so that when this age ends they may welcome you in the eternal dwelling place.

Translation: Luke 18:9-14

(Please feel free to use this translation.  Credit:  Rev. Murray Speer.)

And now he spoke to some people who were confident in their own faithfulness and despised all the rest, and told this parable:

"Two men went up to the temple to pray.  One, a Pharisee.  The other, a tax-collector.  The Pharisee, standing in the open, was praying:
'God, thank you that I am not like all the rest: thieves, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector.  I fast two times every week [instead of just once] and I give a tenth of everything I own [not only things that are normally tithed].'

"But the tax-collector stood way in the back and would not even raise his eyes upward.  He kept hitting his breast, and said:
'God, show compassion to me, who is not a good Jew.'

"I tell you, when this one went down to his house he was pronounced faithful, more than the other one.  Because those who raise themselves up will be brought down, and those who bring themselves down will be raised up."

Dramatic Reading: Good Friday for Four Voices (Peter, Judas, the Other Mary, Magdalene)

(Please feel free to use this reading.  Credit:  Rev. Murray Speer.)

Part One: Peter’s Tale (Matthew 26:31-56)

I told him I would never leave him.  But, I have to tell you, all this strange talk about how he would have to suffer and die - and how we would leave him to suffer alone - and that I would disown him?  Me!  Peter, the rock!  All this strange talk was getting to be too much.

When we set out on the road for Jerusalem, we knew that big things would happen.  Everywhere we went, people were listening to Jesus.  REALLY listening.  In every town, the local Pharisees debated with Jesus.  They didn’t like that he preached resistance against the government, but they had to admit that he followed the Scriptures.  And the people loved him, so the authorities had to take him seriously.

It would be the same in Jerusalem, we were sure.  The people would love him, and the High Priest would have to admit that his teachings were valid.  Everyone would have to take him seriously.  And things would change.

We knew it was dangerous.  We knew what happened to the Baptizer.  Herod had him executed.  We had steeled ourselves to face danger.  Jesus didn’t want us to fight, but we wouldn’t listen to him.  We were ready to fight and die for him.  It was absurd to suggest that we would desert him.  But surely nothing would happen until after the Passover festival!  He would continue to teach, more and more people would listen to him, the priests would take him seriously, and the government would have to start treating us differently.

So, imagine our surprise when they came to arrest him on the night before Passover.  How dare they disrespect the holiday?  I drew my sword, determined that no one would stop me.  But, somehow, he did stop me.  And then he did something I never imagined.

He went with them, willingly.  Didn’t he have confidence in us?  Didn’t he think we could win a fight?  Does he want us to just give up, now that we’re so close to our goal?

Part Two: Judas’ Tale (Matthew 26:57-27:5)

Where could I find forgiveness?  I never dreamed they would send armed guards to arrest him.  I never imagined they would haul him away in chains like a criminal.  We thought his strange talk about having to suffer and die was just pessimism.  We thought he was just selling himself short.

We’d been in Jerusalem for days and still he hadn’t met with the high priests.  They refused to come out to discuss with him, and he seemed reluctant to go to them.  But what if I could be the one who brought them together, where they could listen to his preaching!  If I could arrange that meeting, I would be guaranteed greatness in the kingdom to come!

When I told the priests where to find him, I thought they would go alone.  I thought they wanted to talk privately with him, without the audience that would gather if they went in public.  But when the time came, they made a public affair of it!  They brought soldiers, and invited a crowd to follow!  There was nothing I could do but beg them to take him peacefully.  I saw the way his other followers looked at me.  As though I had betrayed them all.  It was almost unbearable.

I followed them into the city.  Then I realized that they weren’t going to let him explain himself.  He would be convicted and thrown into prison, because he held demonstrations against them and the government.

When they brought him out, I thought that maybe I had been wrong.  Maybe they had heard him, and everything would turn out okay!  But he was still in chains.  I followed as far as I could, until I realized where they were going.  They were taking him to Pilate.  I couldn’t believe it!  The high priests were turning him over to the Romans!  That a Jew would hand another Jew over to a heathen authority!  My heart turned to water.   There’s only one reason that they would hand him over to Pilate.  They want him killed, and they don’t have the authority.  They’ll frame him.  He’ll be crucified as a terrorist.

I did this.  Where could I find forgiveness?

If he dies, I’ll die too.  There is no life after he dies.  If I can’t live in his kingdom, I’ll take my own life.  So be it.

Part Three: The Other Mary’s Tale (Matthew 27:11-32)

Magdalene and I were the only ones to stay with him through his horrible ordeal.  The men all ran, including my sons James and Joseph.  We saw Peter and Judas in Jerusalem, but by the time the soldiers brought Jesus out of the presidium, beaten and bleeding, they had disappeared just like the others.

I don’t blame them, really.  Nobody outside our group had ever noticed us at all, through all the healings and the debates and the demonstrations.  The men would squabble over who was his greatest disciple, while we got to work bandaging the sick and giving alms to the poor.  This meant that they were so much more visible - so much more recognizable as his disciples.

You never know with the Roman authorities.  When they go after a group like ours, sometimes they take only the leader, and other times they round everybody up to be crucified.  It was probably smart for them to disappear.  But that didn’t make it any easier for me and Magdalene, to watch what happened.

It was horrible when the people called for Bar-Abbas to be released.  Again, I don’t blame them, really.  Let me tell you about Bar-Abbas.  He’s a famous bandit.  He and his men live in the hills and raid caravans.  They’re angry over the suffering of the poor, so they steal from the rich.  But, if you ask me, they’re really doing it for themselves.  How much of the wealth they steal do they give to the poor villages they left behind?  Almost nothing.

But Bar-Abbas says he fights for the poor, so the poor people love him.  And the people he raids are either Romans, or Jews who work with the Romans.  So the people who hate Rome love Bar-Abbas.  They think that a man in the hills with a sword can change things.  I don’t blame them.

How quickly they forgot Jesus - the man who tried to change things by tending to their broken bodies and broken spirits.  They forgot the man who tried to show them that God loves each and every one of them.  They forgot the one who tried to change the world by touching their hearts and opening their eyes.

I don’t blame them, really.  But it was a horrible thing to see.

Part Four: Magdalene’s Tale (Matthew 27:33-66)

What do we do now?  When the Baptizer died, Jesus was there to pick up the pieces and show us a way greater than we imagined.  But who will pick up the pieces now?

I remember when we first came to Jerusalem - the energy and the excitement.  We thought we could change things.  Show people that there is another way to resist the Romans other than violence.  Jesus was building a community of people who cared for each other.  Before him, all you saw was people neglecting others and focusing only on themselves.  That’s what the Empire is doing to us.  Pilate and Herod prefer to rule over selfish people.

We tried.  We tried to show people that by caring for each other, you can have the kingdom of God.

But we didn’t change anything.  We failed, and Jesus is gone.  I watched him, there on the cross.  I didn’t take my eyes off of him.  He called out, “Why have you forsaken me?”  If only he could have seen me, and known that I was there.  If only he could have known that not everyone had forsaken him.

I don’t know what we’ll do next.  I think we’ll find each other and talk about what happened.  It’s still Passover, and Jesus would want us to be together.  Then, when things have quieted down a bit and the Sabbath is over, we’ll go and see where they laid him.

We’ll do our best to pick up the pieces.  But things will never be the same.

Translation: John 14:1-14

(Please feel free to use this translation.  Credit:  Rev. Murray Speer.)

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You put faith in God; put faith also in me.

There are many dwelling places that belong to my Father’s household. If it were not so, I should tell you so, because I go ahead of you to prepare your place.

And if I have gone and prepared a place for you, I come again and join up with you, so that where I AM, there you might also be.

And you already know the path I follow."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we have no idea where you travel. How can we already know the path?"

Jesus said to him, "I AM the path, and I AM real, and I AM alive. No one comes to the Father without me.

If you comprehend me, you will comprehend my Father also. From now on you do comprehend him and have seen him."

Philip said to him, "Lord, explain the Father to us, and we will have all we need."

Jesus said to him, "So much time I AM with you, Philip, and you still do not comprehend me? Whoever sees me sees the Father. How do you say, ‘Explain the Father to us'?

Do you not trust that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The things that I say to you I do not speak from myself; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Trust me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then trust because of the works themselves.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who puts faith in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

And if you ask for something that honours me, I will make it so, so that the Father may be honoured by way of the Son.

If you ask me for something that honours me, I myself will make it so.

Translation: 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 (Paraphrase)

(Please feel free to use this paraphrase.  Credit:  Rev. Murray Speer.)

Love lasts forever.  Religions and philosophies will each come to an end; words and languages are not eternal; knowledge is fleeting.  Only love is eternal.

For our knowledge can never be complete, and our religions and philosophies can never be perfect.

When all is said and done, these things will be gone, and only that which is complete and eternal will remain, which is love.

When I was young, I had the perspective of a youngster.  Now that I am an adult, I understand the world differently.

Likewise, in this life our perspective is like looking into a distorted mirror, but when all is said and done we will be face to face.  We can’t know everything in this life, but my faith tells me that if I have love, God will know me fully.*  And when all is said and done, I will finally understand.

* From 1 Corinthians 8:3

Translation: Philippians 2:1-8

(Please feel free to use this translation.  Credit:  Rev. Murray Speer.)

Therefore,
if there is any encouragement in Christ,
any consolation from love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any affection and compassion,
then fill me with happiness:
share in the same understanding,
having the same love,
living in harmony,
and being of one wisdom.
Do not regard others as competition
or look on them with pride,
but with a sense of your limitations
regard each other
as having more value than yourselves.
And be concerned not only with your own interests,
but also with others.
Have the understanding that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he had the nature of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but giving up power,
he emptied himself,
taking on the nature of a bonded servant.
Being born as a human,
and attaining human form,
he behaved without pride
and became obedient until death
even death by crucifixion.